IHSAHN Das Seelenbrechen (2013) CD

When Ihsahn decided Emperor's legacy wasn't enough of a shadow to live in, he started dismantling every expectation black metal had of him, one solo record at a time.

Das Seelenbrechen, German for "the soul-breaking," is where he went fully off-map. Released in 2013, this is progressive black metal in the truest sense, not the kind that just adds a keyboard and calls it experimental. There are jazz textures, dissonant noise passages, ambient sprawl, and then a track that sounds like it could have come from the Emperor playbook before it collapses into something else entirely. It's demanding and rewarding in equal measure, the kind of record that reveals new layers after the fifth listen. If you've been following Ihsahn's arc from the black metal underground through his solo catalogue, this is the pivot point where his ambitions became genuinely uncategorisable.

Format: CD, full length album. Origin: Norway. Genre: Progressive Black Metal.

Fans of: Emperor, Deathspell Omega, Virus, Ulver, Arcturus.